Nevertheless, I am honored to give this education pioneer the floor in the most prominent written explication of the Fix UC plan to date.

Fix UC

By Chris LoCascio

For months, America has been treated to voyeuristic, often violent, images of student activism at the University of California (UC). One particular photo taken at UC Davis, depicting a police officer dousing seated demonstrators in pepper spray, has become the rallying symbol of the protests. Often forgotten from the sensational media coverage of campus unrest, however, is the legitimate reason students are so upset: California’s world-renowned system of low-cost, high-quality public higher education is in deep trouble.

In the three years I have attended the University of California, Riverside, I have seen my tuition nearly double. Course offerings have shrunk, yet more students are enrolled. Quarterly unit caps have been implemented and tenure-track faculty is teaching fewer courses. If there is one lesson students are learning at the University of California, it is that we are paying more for an education of lessening quality.

Believe it or not, the University of California used to be free. In 1960, a student, regardless of his or her family’s income, could enroll at any UC school, get an education of preeminent quality, and not worry about paying for it. The same applied to California’s other two tiers of higher education: the California State University (CSU) and California Community College System (CCCS). A lot can change in 52 years.

My primary extra-curricular responsibility on campus is running UCR’s campus newspaper, the Highlander. As its editor-in-chief, I hold the unique responsibility of keeping the student body informed and up-to-date on the news relevant to them. When it came to reporting on the state budget crisis and the substantial negative effect it would have on our campus, I was heartbroken to have to inform pre-med students that they wouldn’t have the opportunity to attend UCR’s completed but unopened medical school, or to explain the new unit caps to those who needed to graduate.

We published editorialafter editorialcriticizing the state for its continued cuts to our university and UC officials for lacking solutions other than the standard quick fix: reaching into the seemingly bottomless piggy bank that is students’ (and their families’) money. It quickly became clear that, despite the grave circumstances, there were no other solutions, and there wouldn’t be any unless we came up with our own.

Against the backdrop of California’s insolvency crisis, exacerbated by its dreadfully slow recession recovery, I gathered some of the brightest minds in the UC system to tackle its fundamental funding issues. My team and I dedicated our nights, weekends, and even summer and winter breaks to researching, debating and developing a new long-term funding solution for our university. Nine months and countless cups of coffee later, we released our proposal in January to the UC Board of Regents. We named the effort after our goal: Fix UC.